Being Red
by alphaGipsyDanger
Summary: Being the red ranger is not always easy. Balancing school, monsters, and emotions.
1. Stress

Being Red.

By Fenestrae.

Disclaimer: I own nothing, except Metallispore, he's my pet.

Summary: Being the leader is never easy, and admitting you need help is even harder. Change is never easy and trust even harder to give.

Chapter 1 - Stress

Being a ranger was like being responsible for the entire world, 24 / 7. That was what Connor McKnight thought as he sat in one of Dr. Oliver's classes gazing out of the window. He had only recently begun to understand this. Having to make excuses when a monster attacked as to why he was leaving his friends and running, usually, straight toward the danger that they were all running from. Of course, his friends never actually understood why he was hanging around with the king of computer geeks Ethan and the musical freak Kira, either.

He had been a ranger for two months and had barely had time to get his work done for school between splitting his time defeating the latest monster Mesogog sent their way, trying to get to know Kira and Ethan and spending time with his friends who thought that he was abandoning them to spend time with the freaks. He was tired and stressed, his grades were slipping and his mother was getting suspicious as to what exactly he was doing all those times when he should have been somewhere and didn't turn up and the late nights due to ranger business.

Sighing inwardly he focussed his mind back on to what Doctor Oliver was saying about the Ankylosaurus.

"With it's armoured tail, the Ankylosaurus is able to defend itself by using the club of fused bone on the end of its tail to bludgeon any attackers." Pointing to a diagram on the board behind him, the black Dino Ranger looked across the class and noted the slightly tired look on Connors face. Continuing his lecture on the benefits of the dinosaurs armour he made a mental note to talk to Connor after class about how he was coping combining being a ranger with his schoolwork and football.

Five minutes before the end of class the alarm began to ring and Principal Randall could be heard over the Tannoy announcing that the city was under attack and that all students were released in order to make their way home to safety. As the class began to break up Connor's best friend Aled leaned in and said, "Cool, we can escape this boring lecture!! You comin' McKnight?"

"I need to ask Dr Oliver something about that assignment that he set. I'll catch you up later, kay?" Connor asked, once again making a lame excuse.

"What assignment? You doing one for extra cred or something?" he asked, giving Connor a confused look.

"Yeah, something like that" Connor replied. _If you call saving the city extra cred…_ "I need to boost my grades, my mom is starting to nag."

"You're beginning to turn into one of those geeks McKnight. Okay, catch you later." Aled said as he walked for the door.

As the other people left the room, Connor walked over to where Kira, Ethan and Tommy were stood waiting.

"You guy's ready?" Ethan asked when the rangers were the only remaining people in the room.

"Lets Rock!" Connor said enthusiastically. He could really use this as an excuse to work off some of his frustration with his friends and his slipping grades.

Raising their morphers they began to morph. With a collective cry of: "Ready, Dino Thunder Power Up, Ha!" They morphed into their ranger forms.

"Hayley, what have we got?" Tommy asked, as they raced out of the school and headed downtown to where the clouds of dust from crumbling buildings could be seen.

"A monster is attacking the local Oil Refinery, he's destroying the tanks of fuel they have stored there. If he keeps going, he's going to blow up the entire refinery."

"Looks like we would know where he was anyway, the only thing in that area that could produce that much smoke is the refinery." Kira said.

"You're right," agreed Tommy. "Let's go!"

Upon reaching the refinery it was clear as to how much damage had already been done as barrels lay strewn around the main loading yard and three of the eight gasoline storage tanks were already destroyed, the others already on fire.

"Looks like we got here just in time to stop the other tanks from exploding." Ethan said in an awed voice as he gazed upon the damage. "This is one nasty monster to be able to do this much damage."

"More toys!!" came a loud mechanical voice from behind them causing them to jump and turn around.

Turning to see where the exclamation had come from the rangers saw the source of the destruction. It was a cross between a prehistoric plant and a tank, and vaguely resembled something that you would see on an old eighties children's cartoon. Large treads could be seen merged with thick vines to form its legs and arms with a solid metal torso. The arms had reinforces cannons built into them and an array of weapons could be seen attached to its back even from a distance. Its head was like that of a Venus flytrap sat upon a metal flexed neck with glowing red eyes.

"You have got to be kidding me," Tommy said in a disbelieving voice. "It looks like a Saturday morning cartoon character!"

"Or a reject from that Little Shop of Horrors movie." Ethan added.

Connor was losing what little patience he had. He really wanted for this to be over so he could go home and get to sleep, he was so tired. "Whatever it looks like, I'm going to stop it!" Ignoring his fellow rangers he charged ahead and called his Tyrano staff. Coming in from on high he landed a few good shots before the monster was able to block and counter.

Blocking a vicious swipe from Connor's staff, the monster slammed its fist into Connor's chest, knocking him off his feet. "You cannot destroy me, you little toy! I am Metallispore and I will crush you and this entire city!!!!" Raising its arm cannons it prepared to fire at the downed ranger.

Should I leave it there?? (Grins Evilly)Please leave a review if you want.


	2. Trust

Being Red.

Disclaimer:I own nothing, not even the clothes on my back.

I thought that i shouldn'tbe evil and leave it there, so here's the next chapter.

Chapter two - Trust

Seeing Connor being slammed to the ground jarred the other rangers out of their shock at seeing Connor charge in headfirst. Admitted he was no slouch in the butt kicking stakes, but he never charged in recklessly. Springing into action, Tommy and Ethan began to tackle the monster trading blows, while Kira ran to cover Connor.

Slowly and painfully Connor pushed himself up to his knees, arm bracing his chest. It felt like it was on fire. The monster could pack quite a punch and Connor knew that without the suit that he would have been seriously injured. Now he was mad, he couldn't manage his workload and friends and now he couldn't even take down one of Mesogog's monsters.

"Connor! Are you okay?" Kira asked, reaching a hand down to pull him up.

"Yeah, I'm fine." He replied, gripping his staff.

Tommy and Ethan were gaining some ground on the creature when suddenly out of nowhere appeared Zeltrax with a horde of tyranodrones. Momentarily distracted by the appearance of Zeltrax and the tyranodrones both Ethan and Tommy were dealt similar blows to the one Connor had received earlier.

"Tyranodrones, attack!" Zeltrax bellowed, and then dove into the fight, making a beeline for the black ranger.

Ethan and Kira had already begun to take down the tyranodrones, leaving Metallispore to Connor, which was just the way he wanted it, no, needed it. This was the perfect way of venting his stress. Diving headlong into the fight, he pushed thoughts of the battle going on around him to the back of his mind and focussed on the fight in front of him. Dodging a haymaker from the monster he took advantage of the opening to land two good strikes to the monster's side, before having to counter a swift left kick, which caused his entire leg to vibrate with the force of.

Tommy meanwhile was faring less well, Zeltrax had him on the defensive and he had to counter sneaky attacks by tyranodrones. A blow to his head from a drone in his blind spot caused him to lose balance and opened up the perfect opportunity for Zeltrax to strike. Sending a huge bolt of energy at the black ranger, he laughed as the force of it threw the ranger backwards and into some of the barrels which had not yet been destroyed.

Kira and Ethan were faring better; having fewer drones to deal with and were making quick work of them. Upon seeing Tommy blasted into the barrels, they took the offensive and attacked Zeltrax and the remaining drones, giving Tommy time to get back to his feet. However, in their haste to help the black ranger and their mentor the gap between them and Connor had grown and had in effect, cut Connor off from them.

Connor, preoccupied with his fight with Metallispore had not noticed the increasing gap between him and the others. Being forced to block several bone jarring strikes, he did not realise that he was being backed up against the burning gasoline tanks. Taking a heavy blow to his right arm and side he felt something _give_ and collapsed to the ground as a new level of pain registered across his senses. Realising that he was in trouble, he looked frantically around for the location of his team-mates and was dismayed to find that he was cut off and alone.

_You can't even lead the team right; even they have abandoned you._ No! That was not true, it wasn't, was it?

Realising that the others were unable to help him, Connor steeled himself and rose to his feet, raising his staff in time to counter a powerful blow, which would have forced him to de morph. Grabbing his laser pistol he fired full force into Metallispore's torso, forcing the monster backwards and causing significant damage. A howl of pain tore from the creature as he continued to fire upon the monster.

Zeltrax, from his position between the other rangers and the red one realised exactly _where_ the red ranger was standing. Raising his weapon he released a huge bolt of energy towards where Connor was crouched, at the exact same time as Metallispore fire his main launchers from his back.

Tommy, pulling himself free from the wreckage that was the barrels he had landed in, looked on in horror as the two blasts hit home, causing a massive blast of energy to explode. Taking the remaining five tanks of gasoline with them…. "Connor, NO!!!"

Hearing their mentor's stricken cry the blue and yellow rangers turned in time to see Connor disappear in a tremendous blast of energy as both Metallispore and Zeltrax's blast ignited the Gas tanks. The resulting blast knocked them all of their feet and forced them to demorph.

As the smoke cleared they could see that the monster and Zeltrax had disappeared and only insane laughter could be heard faintly echoing in the remains of the yard. Pushing themselves to their feet, ignoring the various array of cuts and bruises they had sustained they half staggered, half ran to where they had last seen the red ranger, outnumbered and defenceless.

Heh heh, will leave it there tho. :)

As always, leave a review - Fen.


	3. Battered

I know, I know. Evil cliff hanger. I meant to post this earlier but couldn't get the damn internet connection to work. computers are hard!!!! Thanks go to MzDany, Manders1953, Sapphire Rayne and PRfangirl for their lovely reviews,there will be another after this i promise. You guys make me want to write.

Oh, Manders, did you see Michael Shanks in Andromeda? Very Tasty. Mmmm.

Disclaimer:I own nothing, but would like to keep Connor as my personal slave:)

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Being Red: Chapter Three - Battered. 

Scrambling madly through the wreckage of the tanks they desperately searched for their fallen friend. They had noticed that he had been reckless and had charged into this fight and that they too had been reckless and left him cut off. All they cared about was finding him; anything else could be fixed later, if they found him.

"Connor!!!" Kira yelled, eyes welling with tears. "We shouldn't have left him. He was cut off and we didn't realise! It's our fault!" Grabbing a piece of wrecked barrel she threw it away from the area, using it to vent her fears.

"We _will_ find him, Kira. And he _will_ be okay. He's strong," Tommy reassured her. "The Dino gem will protect him."

Ethan who had remained silent looked up to see the look of doubt pass across their teachers face, and the look of despair on Kira's. He knew why Connor had been behaving more reckless than ever. He knew about the slipping grades and the problems with his friends. He may be a computer geek, but he was observant enough to pick up on the tension between Connor and his friends.

He saw it every time one of them wanted to know where he was going with Kira or himself, saw the conflict cross Connor's face. He badly wanted to help his fellow rangers but he didn't want to lose the friends that he had. Ethan understood the strain on the schoolwork due to ranger duties well enough, as did Kira, but having pressure from friends about his disappearances was something that he had never had to deal with.

"Kira, we will find him," Ethan said grabbing her hand and giving it a squeeze.

Before he could finish what he was going to say they heard a faint cry of "Over here!" Turning at the sound they looked on in amazement as they saw Connor stagger towards them from the other side of the yard from where they had last seen him.

"Connor!" Kira cried and ran to hug him. "I don't understand, you were caught in the blast…" She trailed off as she released her hold and got a closer look at him. His shirt was ripped in several places with blood oozing from several deep cuts. One of his eyes was swollen shut and an ugly bruise was forming on the left side of his jaw.

"The combined blasts of that Monster and Zeltrax knocked me on my ass, but I managed to have enough energy left to use my speed to avoid the brunt of the blast…" he trailed off as he began to sway on his feet, eyes becoming glazed.

Before he could sink to the ground, Ethan and Tommy grabbed him by his arms, keeping him upright. "Connor, stay with us," Tommy called noticing the unnatural bend in Connor's right arm as he grasped it. "You need to stay conscious, you might have a concussion."

"M'okay," he mumbled as he tried to walk, legs giving way. "Just need to rest, using that much energy drains you…" Head drooping he raised it just enough to look into their eyes, "I thought you guys had left me, thought – how am I gonna explain this to my friends, or my mum…" The last words slurred together as he felt blackness and oblivion engulf him.

Staggering a bit under the added weight of Connor's now limp form, the two males eased him to the floor, taking care not to jostle him further.

"Will he be okay?" This from Ethan was directed at Tommy and mirrored in Kira's face.

"We need to get him back to the lab," Tommy answered, raising his communicator. "Hayley, we need transport, Connor's down."

"Bad?" She asked, worry evident in her voice.

"Not life threatening but serious."

"I'm on my way." She replied and cut the link.

To be Continued....

A/N did anybody get snow for christmas??


	4. Discussions

Hey there y'all!!! A new day, a new chapter!! thanks for all the reviews, they were really graet, and for the recordI got three inches of snow,I think.

rangerboy asked what does Tommy do in this series, well most, if not all of you know that he was the evil green ranger,white tiger ranger, and the red turbo ranger. After that he went to College and became adoctor in palaeontology i think. Anyway, long story short, he teaches at the rangers high school. after a research project with Anton Mercer went wrong anyway. (tosay much more would ruin the series.)

Connor, Ethan and Kira found their Dino gems in his secret underground lab and became the DinoThunder rangers, then, after finding another gem, Tommy became the Black Dino Thunder ranger. In the series he basically helps them out and is thier mentor. Oh, and Zeltrax has major issues with him.

(If i have any of this wrong please tell me, it's been a while since i saw the series.)

On with the next chapter!!!!

Being Red Chapter 4 - Discussion

After they had got Connor settled in the lab, and Hayley had checked him over, they discussed what had gone wrong. Connor was still unconscious and would be for a while so they had decided to go over the events as they saw them.

"How did Connor get separated?" Hayley asked. Having not been there she was best able to put together what had happened without being biased.

"He charged the monster, Metallispore, and was doing okay until it landed a good hit and knocked him down," Kira said, twiddling with a strand of hair.

"That's where we came in, we distracted Metallispore while Kira helped him to his feet. He just charged in as if he was determined to stop it himself." Tommy noted, glancing over to where Connor lay, battered and bruised, arm in a sling.

"He seems to be getting more and more angry as time goes on, I think he's having a hard time managing between being a ranger, playing football, schoolwork and his friends who want to know where he keeps running off to." This from Kira was a surprise; she hadn't seemed interested in what Connor had been doing, especially where his friends were concerned. It was a well-known fact that Aled did not like Kira and the feeling was very mutual.

"Why do you think that?" Tommy asked, although he already had a good idea as to the answer.

"I can answer that," Ethan replied. "I've seen him around his friends. You can tell that he wants to explain the real reason why he disappears in a crisis, but he can't because he doesn't want to give himself or us away. I've seen the way he looks when they start to quiz him about it. Because of this, he has been trying to split his time and get less sleep in order to fit everything in. Because he's tired his work is suffering and then his mother gets on his case. His friends don't care, they just want to hang because he has a car and is a football jock. He wants to be good as a ranger."

Looks of surprise were directed at Ethan. "I never knew you were so insightful," Hayley said.

"I may be a geek, but I listen and watch"

"This is all well and good, we know why Connor went in alone to defeat Metallispore without us, but how did he get separated from you guys?" Hayley asked, looking at the three rangers.

"That's my fault, I got blindsided by a tyranodrone while fighting Zeltrax and launched into some barrels, and Kira and Ethan came to my aid." Tommy said, looking sheepish. "I should have been concentrating more on what was going on instead of just on Zeltrax."

"And none of you realised that Connor was on his own?" The look of incredulity was enough to cause the others to look down at the floor.

"We tried, we just weren't fast enough…" Kira trailed off as tears began to fall.

"No, but I was."

All four of them jumped in surprise at the voice. Connor was looking at them with tired eyes, one half swollen shut.

"We thought you were unconscious." Tommy said giving him a slightly guilty look. "How long have you been awake?"

"Since Ethan was talking." Connor sighed, pain visible on his face. "He's right, I can't do this. I can't keep splitting everything. Something has to give."

Rising from where they were sat the other gathered around the bed. Kira grabbed his left hand and gave it a squeeze. "_We're_ here for you Connor. We can help; you're not alone. We won't leave you, ever again."

Looking into their eyes he smiled. "How are we going to explain this to my mom?" he asked raising his left arm slightly for emphasis.

"I have an idea." Tommy answered, smiling as Connor drifted back into sleep, worn out.

"Will he be okay?" Ethan asked the black ranger, eyeing the extensive catalogue of injuries.

"In time, and with some help from all of us, yeah." Tommy answered. "For the mean time, we should get some rest ready for when Metallispore returns. I don't think that Connor will be in a fit state to help us."

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I thought that it needed kind of a review type chapter, and it is kind of essential to the story. i noticed in the beginning of the series that they didn't really get on that well, i hope that this comes through. i'm now ranting so, leave a review and let me know what you think!! X Fen X 


	5. You Told Her What?

Here we go, another chapter, although it may be a bit before I update, not only do I have exams, but I also have an abstract and a dissertation to do, which is a bit mean, but hey! Will get over it. Thanks go to Funky In Fishnet, , Siriuslydeceased, Manders1953,ChristalSteele and LaurenLiz19.

I think that i should make this clear now, I live in Sunny Britain, which means that Soccer is Football over here, so i apologise if i call it Football (which it is) when Americans call it Soccer.Its not my fault they ripped off Rugby and called it Football. Besides, i play Ice Hockey.

For all the lovely reviews, its great logging on to find you have twelve emails, it really is!!

Being Red Chapter 5 - You Told Her What?

A deep ache was the first thing that registered in his mind the next time that Connor woke. The second was the sound of faint snoring coming from his left. Opening his eyes he immediately regretted it as the light sent tiny daggers of pain into his brain. Squinting, he turned to see Dr. Tommy Oliver fast asleep in a chair next to his bed.

Sensing a change in Connor, Tommy woke with a slight start to find Connor staring at him. "Connor, you're awake. How do you feel?" Tommy asked offering the younger ranger some water.

"Like I've been hit by a truck and it reversed for good measure. The last thing I remember was you all here, I must have dozed off again," he replied, taking a sip of the proffered water. Coolness washed the pain from his throat as he continued. "Where is everyone?"

"Ethan and Kira are at home, they need their rest if Metallispore returns, and Hayley will be closing the Cyber café by now."

"I need to get home, my mom will be wondering where I am," the red ranger said as he began to push himself up from his prone position with his left arm. "She'll be worried about me, and I need to explain where I've been." He stopped short at the pain in his right arm and side, pushing the nausea down as dizziness overcame him.

"You need to rest," Tommy asserted, pushing the now wincing Connor back down onto the bed. "I already called your mother."

"What? What did you say, it's not as if you could exactly tell her what happened." Connor looked perplexed at the statement. If his mother knew he was a ranger it would make his life easier and harder at the same time. Sure, she would understand about the late nights and the disappearing suddenly, but she would also constantly worry about him getting into this exact position.

"No, I didn't tell her what happened. I told her that you were helping me on a dig and slipped. She knows that you hit your head and have broken your arm, and that you will be staying here for a day or two since the doctor that I called out has recommended bed rest and as few visitors as possible. She said that she understood and that she will be around tomorrow to fetch you some things and to check that you are being a well behaved house guest." Tommy smiled at the slight look of horror on Connor's face.

"You told her I slipped, down what, a cliff?" The images of his brothers and sisters forever teasing him were appearing before his eyes.

"No, off of a board over one of the trenches bringing me some equipment, and since I felt responsible, that I would look after you, and that she was welcome to visit anytime."

An even greater look of horror appeared on his face as the last bit of what the black ranger said sank in. "You said she could _visit_," he asked in a dumbfounded voice. "I swear I will never live this down!" he said as he hid his face behind his left hand.

"She even said that she would fetch some of her chicken soup." Tommy was beginning to get a kick out of Connor's discomfort. Connor could only groan. "You need to take it easy anyway, you had a slight concussion, which is why you keep going dizzy. As well as breaking your arm, you also dinged a couple of ribs. Nothing broken but they're going to smart for a few days. You also managed to gain a few deep scrapes, but nothing that needed stitches, you were lucky."

"So that explains why I feel as if I've been hit by the truck. Or in this case the half plant, half truck monster."

"Connor, do you remember what happened before the gas tanks blew or what you said when you woke in the lab earlier?" Tommy asked, face serious.

"No, I was pretty out of it, why I didn't say something insulting did I?" Connor asked, knowing that he sometimes said things that upset Kira and Ethan without really understanding what exactly had upset them.

"You said that you used your Dino Gem power to escape the blast from the gas tanks, right after Zeltrax and Metallispore hit you." Tommy filled him in.

"I did?" Thoughts could be seen forming in his eyes as the events replayed in his mind. "I remember being forced to demorph, then things began to slow down, like in a movie, you know?" Connor said, continuing at the nod form Tommy. "It was then that I realised that if I didn't _move_ then I was going to be caught in the blast, so I just ran…" he trailed off, as he began to realise what he was saying. "The gem, it saved me, didn't it?"

"Only someone really in tune with the energy of his or her Gem could pull something like that off. I think it did save you, but only because you are so in tune with your gem that it was able to act for you, through you." Tommy said. "This is all speculation though. You shouldn't have been in a situation like that in the first place."

Connor knew what was coming, the whole 'reckless speech', the last thing on the planet that he needed to hear. It wasn't bad enough that he couldn't get anything right; he had to be chewed out for it too.

"We shouldn't have left you for you to be placed in that situation, we're a team and we got distracted and you paid the price. We're all sorry for that Connor. Even if you _did_ rush off headfirst into the fight." Tommy said, noticing the look of shock on the teen's face.

"Wait a minute, you mean that you're not going to chew me out?" This was surreal, he had screwed up, why wasn't he being told he was a failure?

"What's done is done. I think it's safe to say that you wont do it again. The real question is, will you let us help?"

"I don't know what you mean," Connor replied, suddenly looking down at the floor, avoiding his teacher's gaze.

"We know that you've been struggling with balancing your work and friends and ranger duties. Why didn't you ask for help from us, Connor? We could help," Tommy said, placing a hand on Connor's shoulder.

"Help, how? Aled and the others will start asking questions if I ignore them, just like my mother does about why my grades are slipping." Connor replied looking up into his mentor's eyes.

"Well, for now we can help with the School work and the excuses to your mother. I'm sure that Ethan and Kira can help with study group excuses for Ranger emergencies. As for your Ranger duties, we can all help. You're not expected to be perfect Connor, even we need help from each other and being the leader isn't the easiest thing in the world. Trust me I know." Tommy said, smiling at the memories of all the trouble he had being the red ranger back in his Turbo days. "As for your friends, that is something you have to sort for yourself. If they can't understand that you need to work, then are they truly your friends?"

Connor allowed the advice to sink in. "You know, I think you're right. I do need to come to an understanding with them." Before he could say anything else the alarm went off. "Is there no rest for the wicked?"

"Apparently not," Tommy answered, rising from his chair. Pressing a few buttons he brought up an image of Metallispore attacking a warehouse. "It appears he's back." He turned at the strangled gasp that came from behind him.

Connor was levering himself out of the bed. "Oh no, you are staying right there. You are not in any shape to be fighting, besides, your mother would definitely kill me," he chastised walking over to the struggling ranger and pushing him back into the bed. "We can handle this, you get to sit this one out."

With that last he sent the signal to the others that Metallispore was back.

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Well, that's it for another chapter!!! Let me know what you think, do you want more or should I go through a star gate with no return address?? 


	6. Teamwork?

Yo dudes! I like totally apologise for the humungous delay, however real life sent me a rogue wave and I kind of like, had a dissertation for my degree to do. Any way, this is just a little something to let you off of the cliffie I left ya all on ;)

Disclaimer: The Dino Thunder Rangers and co. are highly trained weapons experts, do not attempt to copy anything at home, or anywhere else for that matter, unless you really really want to.

This is an amateur writing attempt, no money is being made and the denting of the characters is entirely intentional, so don't sue.

any mistakes are due to high levels of painkillers, since i have managed to destroy my spine. :(

Chapter 6 - Teamwork?

Kira was sat in her room, absently strumming her guitar when her bracelet beeped. "Go for Kira," she said in a low voice so that her parents wouldn't overhear her.

Tommy's voice floated into the air, "Metallispore is back and he's attacking some warehouses down by the docks. I need you and Ethan to meet me there. Ethan is already on his way."

"What about Connor?" she asked, knowing full well that he would have argued that he should be there, even if he was in no shape to fight.

"He's sitting this one out." Tommy replied, amusement in his voice. "He's not very happy about it."

"I can imagine why." Kira smiled, understanding the reasons behind the amusement. She was there when Dr. Oliver had called Mrs. McKnight.

"Get here as soon as you can."

"I'm on my way" she replied, already on her way out of the door.

By the time that Tommy reached the warehouses, Kira and Ethan were already fighting the monster and having little to no effect on the thick armour. With a huge blast, the blue and yellow rangers were thrown backwards to land on the ground hard.

"Ethan, Kira!" the black ranger called, running to their side and blocking an energy blast sent in their direction by Metallispore.

"We're ok," Ethan said, pushing himself to his feet and pulling Kira up with him. "That thing has a lot of punch."

"Yeah," Kira agreed, hand on her side. "How do we stop it, Dr. O?"

"If we combine our weapons it might be enough," he said, giving it some consideration.

"Yes, but that is not going to happen!" a voice said from behind them.

"Zeltrax!" Tommy said, not surprised to see him or the tyrannodrones that were behind him.

"Black ranger, I have a score to settle with you," he said, voice dripping with malice.

Before any of the rangers could blink, Zeltrax and the tyranodrones attacked, immediately attempting to separate the three rangers. Metallispore, knowing a good thing when he sees it, launched his attack. Picking the most vulnerable ranger, he aimed a blast right at the yellow ranger.

Busy defending against two tyrannodrones she did not see the blast as it hurtled towards her and was slammed full force into the ground, demorphed. Blinking hazily through the pain from being slammed into the ground, Kira looked up to see Metalispore advancing upon her, cannons aimed directly at her.

"First the red ranger, and now the yellow! Looks like I'm on a winning streak!" the monster gloated.

Ethan, surrounded by the remaining tyrannodrones, fought furiously to reach her, efforts hampered by their sheer number. Tommy who had been fighting Zeltrax with focus, turned to see Kira demorphed at Metallispore's gloating and too began to fight even harder to reach her side.

"Bye bye, little yellow ranger!" Metallispore sneered, lowering his cannon at the fallen ranger as she struggled to rise to her feet.

Closing her eyes, she didn't see the streak of red until it grabbed her at the last instant as the half tank half plant monster fired, and pulled her to safety. Opening her eyes, she found her self in Connor arms. His morphed suit showing signs of soot from the blast. "Connor! What are you doing here! You should be resting!"

"Yeah, well someone had to save your sorry butt and a thank you wouldn't go amiss. Although I am going to have to put you down, since I can no longer feel my arm and you're heavy," he wheezed. Dropping her to the ground he leaned heavily on his tyranno staff. "I am definitely getting old," he said.

"Connor!" Tommy said, having managed to escape Zeltrax long enough to rally to their side and had also been joined by Ethan, who had dispatched of the tyrannodrones. "I thought I told you to take it easy?" he accused, tone implying that he was not very happy with the younger ranger.

"Yeah, but if I hadn't turned up when I did, Kira would be nothing but a scorch mark on the sidewalk!" He shot back, still using his staff to prop himself up. "Aren't we supposed to be a team?"

"If you so much want to be together, then I will destroy you all so that you can spend eternity together!" Metallispore boomed, aiming his cannons in their direction.

"It appears that we will have to finish our disagreement at a later time Black ranger, provided you survive!" Zeltrax called and disappeared.

"Bring it on!" Kira yelled, remorphing and taking up position to the right of Connor. "You ready?" she asked him.

"Yeah, lets finish this guy so I can go back to bed," he answered.

Then the fight really began.

* * *

Well, there was the next chapter, let me know what you think and who you want me to whump next but bear in mind that Connor has already suffered, but I can dent him more if you want to!

Fen.


	7. Light meat, or Dark?

Ican only apologise for the long delay, it is all aol's fault since their hardware destroyed my computers connections and hard drive. Because of this i had to re write the lost chapters and de frag my computer. not a very happy bunny. Anyway, here's the next chapter, prizes go to the person who can get the film the chapter title quote comes from. : )

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Chapter 7 - Light meat, or Dark?

"If you so much want to be together, then I will destroy you all so that you can spend eternity together!" Metallispore boomed, aiming his cannons in their direction.

"It'll take more than you to break this team up!" The black ranger yelled, ignoring Zeltrax's parting comment. "Ready guys?"

"Hell yes! I owe this freak big time!" Connor replied, taking up a ready fight stance, staff at the ready in his left hand.

"Yeah, lets finish this creep!" Ethan agreed, Tricerashield at the ready.

"You will never defeat me!" roared the half plant, half tank monster. Aiming his cannons he released a massive blast of energy at the rangers, forcing them backwards with the force of the blast. Without waiting to see if they were still standing, Metallispore charged.

Having been knocked off their feet by the blast, the rangers barely had time to scramble to their feet before the monster charged in swinging his armoured arms at them. Tommy, being the strongest and most experienced was on his feet first, and ducked the first swipe of Metallispore, only to be caught by the underhanded strike by the second arm knocking him back to the ground.

"Dr. O!" Kira called, pushing herself to her feet and pulling out her ptera grips. Using momentum to give her extra energy, she landed two quick blows to the back of the monster before being knocked back by a well-placed kick.

The blue ranger, having moved into position to cover Tommy as he pulled himself back up off the ground, used the break in Metallispores defence caused by Kira to strike. Swinging his shield with all his strength he connected with one of the cannon emplacements on its back, causing it to explode.

Howling in pain, Metallispore lunged at Ethan, connecting with the ranger's shield, forcing the ranger to retreat a few steps under the force of the blow. Incensed by this damaging attack, the monster advanced on the blue ranger, ignoring the others.

This proved to be a serious error in judgement as Connor, who had been waiting for the perfect opportunity in which to strike, landed a near perfect blow to Metallispore's head, causing the monster to stagger. Taking advantage of this, he landed several more successive blows before being caught by an arm lashing out, knocking him back.

"Connor!" Dr. Oliver called worry lacing his voice. The young red ranger had disobeyed his advice and had arrived in the nick of time to save Kira, but was still injured and not at peak performance. Although he admitted he would have and had done the same thing in Connor's position. Running to the younger rangers side, he placed himself between the monster and the downed ranger, giving him time to get back to his feet while Kira and Ethan continued their attack.

"I'm okay, he just winded me is all," Connor replied as Tommy gave him a helping hand up. Leaning on his staff for support he watched as Kira and Ethan worked in tandem, slowly working down the defences of the monster. "Although I'm beginning to think that I really should have stayed in bed."

Giving the red ranger and appraising look, Tommy could understand. He looked worn out and was using his tyranostaff as more of a crutch than anything else. They needed to finish this quickly. "You are the one who wanted us to work more as a team," he responded glibly. Spotting a gap in Metallispore defences he called on the power of his Brachio staff. "Brachio staff! Landstrike!"

Realising what Dr. Oliver was doing both Kira and Ethan retreated just as the land tremor hit the monster, causing it to scream in pain and collapse on the ground. "A little warning would be nice!" Ethan commented as both he and Kira took up positions on the left of the black and red rangers.

"Teamwork, dude. You knew what he was going to do and got out of the way," Connor replied, adjusting his stance to lean even more on his staff. "If we combine our weapons we can finish him"

Already pushing himself to his feet, the monster looked up at the cry of "Z-rex blaster!" realising that his time was about to come to and end. Releasing one last blast of energy from his cannons at the rangers he was consumed in the energy from their combined attack and disintegrated.

Not realising that Metallispore had managed to get off a parting shot, they were caught unprepared and were blasted off of their feet, landing in a heap on the floor.

"Can whoever is lying on my right arm please get off?" Connor asked in a strained voice. Having landed on the bottom of the pile he was currently enjoying the display of revolving stars in his head and doing his best not to scream as the weight that was lying on his injured side moved off.

"Sorry," came the mumbled reply from Kira who had landed on top of Connor. Climbing to her feet she offered him a hand up, grasping his left and pulling him upright.

"Thanks," he said, swaying from the pain that was now radiating up and down his right side.

Tommy and Ethan, who had already picked themselves up off the ground, were observing the remains of the monster when rain clouds appeared above the remains causing the monster to reform and grow. "Why is it that we can never just have to destroy a monster once, it always has to grow?" Ethan griped.

"We need the dinozords." Tommy said, calling forth the brachio carrier zord. Opening up it cargo bays, the pterodactyl, tyrannosaurus and triceratops zords appeared and began to form the Dino megazord.

"Dino megazord online!" Connor called, taking his place in the control room. "We need to take this guy down and fast." Darkness was beginning to encroach on his vision and he knew that if he lost it now then they were going to be stuck with a very large and destructive problem.

"Ptera-rang!" Kira called, activating the Ptera blade weapon, landing a perfect hit.

Without waiting to see if the attack had had any effect, Connor called on the tyranno drill, striking Metallispore hard, taking the monster down permanently.

Turning their back on the disintegrating monster they deactivated the zord.

"Good job guys," Tommy called as he ran over to them. "That's one more monster that Mesogog can't send our way."

"Yeah, that was a tough one, but we hung in there." Kira agreed.

"I just have one question; Light meat or Dark?" Ethan asked. At the puzzled look on the others faces he laughed.

"Dude, you really need to get a life…" Connor said, voice trailing off. He stood, swaying on his feet, face pale. Suddenly, without warning, his legs gave way.

Being the closest, Kira grabbed him, and was pulled down with the unconscious ranger. Placing herself between him and the floor, she cushioned his head in her lap. "Dr. O? Is he okay?" she asked, worry evident in her voice.

"Yeah, he's just worn out. He really came through for us, even though he was supposed to be resting. We need to get him back," Tommy replied, calling up Hayley.

"Hayley, we need a pick up, Connor decided to join in on the fun."

"I'm on my way."

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Well, sice it's spring break and all i have to do is overhaul the pond, the next chapter will be up soon.

Let me know what you think!

Fen.


	8. Chicken Soup

hey, another chapter for you to indulge in. this one is a bit sappy but i have taken people's reviews into account when writing this. particularly soccer, even though it is called football in sunny britain! As for Connor being spelt differently, my thanks go to Ben Skywalker who kindly pointed out that i had spelled it wrong. all i can say is that i spelt it the irish way, er, sorry about that. the quote from the previous chapter came from Evolution, where they had just killed the giant alien bird in the mall.

Chapter 8. Chicken soup.

It was midday by the time Conner woke. The last thing that he remembered was saving Kira, destroying Metallispore and something about light or dark meat. Opening his eyes he took in the muted tones of Dr. Oliver's guest room. The room was sparsely decorated with a few pictures of landscapes on the walls and had minimal furnishings other than a dresser and a wardrobe in the far corner.

"Hey honey, how are you feeling?" a very familiar voice asked from his left hand side.

Dread filled the teenager as he turned to voice and meet the visage of his mother. "Mom, what are you doing here?" he asked, praying to whatever powers that were listening that this was all some dream, and that his mother wasn't actually there.

"I came over to drop some spare clothes off and fetch you some of my chicken soup silly. Dr. Oliver said that he had told you that I was going to visit, and I really do hope that you have been behaving yourself." She replied in a slightly stern voice, absently smoothing the blankets underneath her hands.

"Oh," he blinked, remembering the earlier conversation. "Its just that with all the monster attacks recently that I didn't want you to go out of your way to see me. I'm as safe here as I am at home."

"Oh, honey, I just wanted to check that you were alright. I mean, slipping into an excavation pit while helping your teacher! Trust you to do something properly!" she said, a smile tugging at her lips.

She has no idea, he thought as she leaned in to give a gentle hug. They drew apart at the quiet knocking at the door.

"Hey, I was wondering if the soccer star was hungry," Tommy said, walking into the room with a carefully balanced tray of chicken soup and bread.

The growl from Conner's stomach was answer enough as his eyes widened at the sight of the bowl of food. "Please tell me that that is your cooking mom and not Dr. O's."

"Since I can't really cook anything that looks as good as this, it's a safe bet that it's your mothers," the black ranger replied as he placed the tray in Mrs McKnight's hands. "I have a message from Ethan, he told me to tell you that he 'has a life, it just revolves around his computer and television'."

Conner smiled at the response from Ethan. He knew full well that this was the typical response that Ethan would give to anyone who would tease him about being a geek, and that his life didn't just revolve around his computer. Much the same as Conner's didn't revolve around soccer and his friends. Reaching his uninjured left hand out to his mother he took the tray containing the food from her and carefully perched it on his knees.

"I think that now I know that you are alright and being fed properly, I'll leave you alone to rest. You had better eat all of that soup Conner McKnight." His mother said mock sternly. "I will be back tomorrow to take you home. I've talked to the doctor and he says that the cast can come off in a week and that you should be fine to go back to school in a few days. He did say that it was strange that your arm was healing very quickly and that it would take only a short time to heal," she said as she gathered her coat from the floor and ruffled his hair.

"It must be the fantastic cooking that you do mom," he replied between mouthfuls.

She smiled and walked through the door, leaving the two rangers alone. After hearing the front door shut downstairs, signalling that his mother had left, Conner allowed the questions that had been burning to come out. "Is everyone okay? After calling the Mega zord things get a little fuzzy."

"Everyone is fine, and Metallispore was destroyed. Do you realise how foolish it was for you to go into that fight? I realise that we wouldn't have defeated him otherwise, but you could have been hurt even worse." Tommy asked, voice even.

Conner looked down into the bowl for a while before answering. "I just knew that you wouldn't be able to defeat him without me and I had a feeling that you all were in danger. I _had _to do something. Besides, looking at the archives, you've done some pretty stupid things in your time as the red ranger," he looked up to see the somewhat chargrined look on the older ranger's face at that comment.

"That's the reason why I know what I'm talking about," Tommy replied, sitting in the previously occupied chair by the bed. "You passed out almost as soon as Metallispore was destroyed, that took an enormous amount of strength of character but you need to realise that if you had collapsed mid fight that both Kira and Ethan would have been placed in serious danger too."

"I know that, I just had to help. We performed more as a team then than we have before." Conner countered.

"And part of working as a team is realising your limits and relying on your other team mates to help when you can't do something. Saving Kira was great but you shouldn't have attacked Metallispore, we could have handled him. You only ended up on the floor, with someone having to pick you up again." Leaning in, he placed a hand on Conner's shoulder. "You did a good job and I would have done the same," he said with a smile.

"Thanks," Conner said smiling. Knowing that one of the oldest power rangers would have done the same thing made him feel less like a failure and even gave him hope that he wouldn't screw up. "Now all I need to get through is all the questions from Aled and the others and survive the big Biology test that's coming up."

"That is something I think the others can help you with. For now though, you'd better finish that soup or your mother will no doubt roast me on a spit for not taking care of you." Tommy replied getting up and leaving the younger ranger to demolish his mother's home cooking.

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There is another chapter, hope you liked it. anyway, let me know what you think and press the button at the bottom of the screen please!

fen.


	9. Friends and Excuses

Hey guys, sorry for the huge delay, but real life (my degree) caught up with me. Now I have lots of time to update and get this thing on the road. So here is the next chapter!

Disclaimer: I own nothing except the clothes on my back and a few rocks.

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Chapter 9 Friends and Excuses.

Conner looked up at the entrance to the high school with trepidation. It had been over a week since the Metallispore fight, and his mother had only just decided that he was fit enough to return. As a consequence he was royally behind on his work and had been fielding questions from Aled for the past week.

"Yo, dude! _Where_ have you been?" Speak of the Devil… Aled was calling from the nearby bench where they habitually met first thing on the morning. Having been so preoccupied with thoughts of work, Conner had failed to notice his friends, who were all watching his reaction with some amusement.

Turning to meet his best friend, Conner plastered a laid back 'all is right with the world' look on his face. "Er, nowhere. My mom insisted that I have the time off so that she could make sure that I didn't get into anymore trouble." Inwardly he smiled at that, _if only she knew how much trouble I get into on a regular basis_.

"Yeah, we heard about your accident. Why where you there in the first place, its like, so uncool to be teacher's pet!" Aled asked, leading them over to the small group of people, a cheerleader, two more football jocks and another girl, Sara, who was Aled's girlfriend.

"Yeah, Conner. You turning into a geek?" this came from the cheerleader, who was idly twirling some of her hair between her fingers.

"No, Delta, I'm not turning into a geek," Conner replied, giving her a look as if to say that was the last thing on his mind. "I was helping out in order to get extra credit for Dr. Oliver's class."

"Dude, why do you even care? You can walk into any school with a Soccer scholarship and they won't care if you fail some of your courses!" Asked Carl, one of football jocks. Not being overly bright, but built like the side of a house, he had chosen football as his choice of career, and didn't much care for education.

"Because, first of all, my mom will be upset if I don't pass my graduation and because in order to get into college you need to have good grades. Besides, I can't play Soccer for the rest of my life, and I don't want to end up as a high school Soccer coach." Conner answered, feeling as though he was banging his head against a brick wall.

Further questioning was stopped by the ringing of the bell, heralding the beginning of class and the press of students walking past and into the building.

"Any way, we need to get going," Aled said, leaning over and giving his girlfriend a quick kiss. "We have Dr. Oliver's class. Yet more boredom and non relevant stuff to fill our heads with." Grabbing Conner's arm, he began to walk off, pulling the red ranger with him.

"You know, you really shouldn't care, it's only high school dude and not the rest of your life," Aled said, pulling him into the building.

* * *

Conner admitted that it was only High school and that it didn't count as much as getting a degree, but it still counted, and besides, his mother would also be really upset with him. Not to mention that his brother wouldn't ever let him live it down. Things were never easy. He was sat in Dr. Oliver's class just letting the information being given out wash over him, something about Trilobites.

He couldn't understand how his friends didn't understand how much his education meant to him, and it was harder trying to keep being a ranger a secret and not interfering with his life. He had already messed up a Soccer tryout so far this year, how many more times would he have to choose between his friends, being a ranger and his education.

His musings however were interrupted by Aled nudging him in the side with his elbow. "Dude, boredom is over, it's time to go. You've got soccer practice."

"Huh, already?" Conner looked around to see that everyone was packing up their stuff and preparing to leave. Even Kira and Ethan had packed up and were casting concerned glances in his direction. "Yeah, sure dude," he replied, gathering his stuff and shoving it in his bag.

* * *

Conner's lack of concentration had not gone unnoticed by Tommy. Throughout the entire lecture he had been distant, staring into space. He doubted that the young red ranger had even heard when he had told the class there would be a test in the next session. He had also noted the attitude of Aled. He knew full well that the boy would be a hindrance to Conner and his future, in education and Soccer. Still, the only person who needed to realise this was Conner.

Sighing, the black ranger began to write out the notes needed for the next class.

* * *

They were halfway through Soccer practice when his Bracelet dinged for attention. Faking a slight pull in his hamstring, Conner made his way over to the changing rooms. Making sure he was out of sight he raised the com link, "Go for Conner."

Hayley's voice filtered out from the small device, "We have another attack, down by the docks. The others are already on their way."

Closing his eyes in frustration, Conner replied, "I'm on my way." Turning towards the door he spotted his coach by the side of the field. Thinking quickly, he walked over and made the excuse of his ribs beginning to hurt and that perhaps he should go and see the school nurse. Excuses made, he set off for the docks.

His departure didn't go unnoticed, however. Aled watched as the young ranger jogged from the pitch and instead of heading for the school nurse, headed for the exit to the school.

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Well, that's it for this one. The plot thickens and for you action junkie's the next few chapters will be entertaining!

Please review!

Fen.


	10. Fighting sucks

As promised here is the next chapter. I'm attempting to get ahead in writing the chapters so that I can still post even if I am too busy to write, so hopefully my muse is up to a marathon writing stint. Please feed it by sending reviews!

My thanks go to the real vampire for reviewing, yes the story line is developing all in good time...

Disclaimer: I own nothing except for the Mantis, who have escaped from my monster zoo. I really need to get a leash for them, pesky critters…..

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Chapter 10 Fighting sucks. 

By the time that Conner had reached the docks, the fight was already in full swing. Kira and Ethan were tackling the last of the tyrano-drones, while the black ranger was tackling Mesogog's newest torment to the city. Or perhaps it should be torments.

This was definitely something new. Instead of one monster attacking, there were two. Insectoid in nature, they appeared identical and resembled preying mantis. Currently the black ranger was holding his ground, parrying blow after blow, landing a few good hits. Kira and Ethan were also faring quite well with the drones, having dispatched most and were dealing with the remaining three with practised team work, born from dealing with this type of threat on a fast becoming regular interval.

Taking all this in over a few seconds, Conner made the decision to help the outnumbered older ranger. Knowing that no one should be left to deal with a threat alone from his previous experience, Conner charged into the fight, drawing his tyranno staff, blocking a strike from one of the mantis creatures before it could land on the back of the black ranger.

"Glad you could make it," Tommy commented as he punched the torso of the mantis he was facing, forcing it backwards and giving him time to take in events around him. "Looks like these are the only two jokers we have left," he said, seeing Kira and Ethan finishing off the last of the drones.

Conner was too busy to notice this having ducked a swipe from the mantis he was facing's claws, bringing his staff up to counter the knee that was brought up by the monster to knock the ranger off of balance. Swinging in a defensive arc he landed a heavy blow to the shoulder of the mantis, knocking it aside, sparks flying from its hardened shell. Retreating backwards he took up position next to his fellow rangers who had assembled in a defensive line, facing the pair of mantis facing them.

Ethan, shield at the ready took the time to observe the duo. "Is it me, or do they look like they could be related to Trakeena?" he asked, a look of confusion on his face, under his helmet.

"Dude, that is sooo creepy, I mean who would want to be related to that thing?" Kira asked, disgust evident in her voice and posture.

"I would so not want to even know how they would have managed that in the first place," Conner said, readying his staff.

Throughout the commentary the mantis had regrouped and stood ready to attack. They had, however, not said a single word, or uttered a single noise other than a high-pitched whistling whenever they got hit.

"Okay, like is it me or have they yet to come out with some sort of cheesy comment about how they plan on destroying us?" Kira asked, realising that something was wrong.

As if the two knew that the rangers were beginning to figure their secret, they sprung forth in silent attack, drawing Katanas, which had previously been unseen.

Raising her Ptera grips Kira readied herself, "Okay, so they don't want to talk, I can deal with that."

As one, the rangers sprang forward, pairing up, to tackle the attacking duo. As if by habit, Conner and Kira paired up, Conner remembering the last time they were in a fight and how he had to save Kira. Together they sprung forward, Conner landing a hard blow to the side of the Mantis as Kira fended off a blow from its katana. Working in tandem they methodically landed blow after blow, alternating in covering each other from the swinging blade.

Suddenly the Mantis landed a solid blow to Conner's side knocking him backwards, allowing it to land a swipe on the front of Kira's protective suit, which flashed brightly in explosive fashion.

"Kira!" Conner called, pushing himself to his feet and placing himself between the downed ranger and the advancing monster.

"I'm okay," she replied, as she got to her feet; hand over the newly made scorch mark. She smiled inwardly at the worried tone.

Seeing the monster advance, the red ranger took the initiative and pulled out his laser, aiming for the creature's torso in an effort to push the creature back. The Mantis' chest exploded in a shower of sparks, driving the creature back wards, allowing the two rangers to regroup.

While Conner and Kira took on one of the Mantis, Tommy and Ethan tackled the second. Using his shield as a barrier against a swipe of the katana, Ethan brought his leg around in a tackling gesture, knocking the mantis off of his feet. This gave time for the black ranger to ready an attack.

"Landstrike!" Tommy called, driving his staff into the ground, causing cracks to open up around the mantis as the energy wave reached it. Without waiting to see if the Mantis had recovered he moved in for the next strike, only to be beaten by Ethan, who had been waiting for just such an opening.

"Hiya!" the blue ranger yelled, as he landed a solid kick to the side of the Mantis monster as it attempted to reach its feet, knocking it to the side.

Rolling with the force of the blow, the mantis rolled to its feet, next to it's companion, who had just struggled to its feet. The whistling noise had increased in volume, and was beginning to take on a vibrating tone similar to crickets.

Regrouping, the Rangers faced off against the two mantis, lasers drawn and at the ready.

"You know, usually we get some sort of reason as to why you are attacking before we start this," Conner said, wondering if they would actually respond.

Their response wasn't however what he expected. As one the two mantis opened their mouths and released an unearthly scream, knocking the rangers to their knees with the force of the noise.

"My head," Kira cried.

"It feels as if they are pulling my brain out through my ears!" Ethan yelled, clutching the sides of his helmet.

"Hold on guys, we can beat these things!" the black ranger called, even as the noise increased in pitch, driving them all to the ground in agony.

"Guys, I have an idea," Conner gasped.

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Heh heh, evil I know to leave it there but that's what I am! 

Let me know what you think!

Fen.


	11. What?

Yet another chapter, I'm on a roll! Woo hoo!

Thanks go to the real vampire and siarah for their reviews, you guys rock. I might put Conner and Kira together, i haven't decided yet. As for the rating change, my bad. I was updating my other fic rating and accidentally changed this one without realising.

Disclaimer: I own nothing except for the Mantis, who have escaped from my monster zoo. I really need to get a leash for them, pesky critters…..

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Chapter 11

What?

"Guys, I have an idea," Conner gasped.

"What?" Ethan asked, feeling as if he was being faced with the biggest nails on chalk board fest ever. "You have really big pairs of fluffy ear muffs?"

"No, you doofus, I actually have an idea," Conner replied, biting back the urge to kick the nearby blue ranger. His head hurt enough without Ethan making it worse. "Dr. O, is their anyway we can use Kira's ptera scream?"

Dr. Oliver, who had been doing his best to convince himself that he wouldn't be permanently deaf after this considered the idea. "It's not powerful enough to cancel out both," he gasped as the noise level increased.

Gritting his teeth, Conner thought. "Is there some way for us to channel our energy into hers, give her an extra boost?"

"That might work, but we need a distraction," Tommy said, shuffling his way over to the others.

"I think that I can manage that," Conner said, pushing himself to his feet.

"Conner, wait, don't go doing something stupid!" Kira called. _Please don't go and get yourself hurt again!_ she thought through the piercing noise, lancing through her brain.

"I can use my speed to get closer to them," he replied, leaning on his staff. "Don't' worry, I'll be okay, I promise." Raising his staff, he charged the two stationary mantis, swinging with all his strength at the two monsters.

Pulling the two younger rangers closer the black ranger called forth his Dino gem. "We only have a short amount of time, you should be able to stop them with the added energy from Ethan and me," he said, pushing his energy into Kira's morpher. "The only down side is that you will have to de-morph in order to use your scream."

"I know you can do this Kira," Ethan encouraged as he called forth his Dino gem and pushed his energy into hers.

Feeling the added energy rise, Kira closed her eyes to steady herself. "When I de-morph, you guys will have to run interference, don't let me get hit or I'll kick your butts," she threatened, only half serious. Standing up she opened her eyes and took in the scene before her.

Conner was somehow holding his own against the two Mantises, even though the piercing scream had become louder. Even now, Kira was finding it hard to concentrate. Raising her morpher she prayed that Conner would be able to hear her as she yelled, "Conner, now! Power down!" As she demorphed, she called forth the extra power and opened her mouth, feeling all the energy explode outwards in an earth-shattering scream.

Conner, barely hearing her call, leapt out of the way just in time to avoid the ground shaking scream. He watched in awe as the energy from her scream caused the ground to buckle, before hitting the two Mantises head on.

As one, the two monsters collapsed to the floor, writhing in agony before exploding in a spectacular combination of pyrotechnics and goo. Conner being the nearest had the unfortunate joy of being coated in the goo.

"Great," he drawled, as he stood up, attempting to wipe the goo off of his suit, half-heartedly. "It's a good job this thing self cleans."

"Conner!" The un-morphed Kira called as she and the others ran over to the now drenched red ranger.

"Nice colour change bro!" Ethan teased, as he took in the new appearance of the red ranger. "That would take forever to come out if it was on your clothes."

"Yeah, good job Conner," Dr. Oliver congratulated.

"Yeah, well we couldn't have done it without Kira, remind me never to upset you if that is what happens when you shout," Conner said, ducking a playful swipe from Kira.

"You're just lucky I don't want any of that goo on my clothes," she replied.

Suddenly, as if planned, the rain clouds began to form, causing the two monsters to reform in giant size.

"You know, this is getting really, really old," Tommy groaned as he raised his morpher to call the zords.

"What?" Conner asked, only hearing the word 'old'.

* * *

Another chapter for you all to chew on; so let me know what you think!

Oh, and who else thinks that Conner would look v. good wet?

Fen


	12. Radios and Confrontations

I really really need to stop writing chapter titles and then forgetting why I had that one in mind….. must be a sign of old age. Any way, i had been meaning to post this for a while, but work seems to be getting in the way, as usual. Thanks go to the reviewers, since i haven't updated in a while and you guys prodded me into kicking the muse! I'm glad people agree with the wet Conner idea... mmmmm...wet Conner -er sorry, lost track of what i was saying. Conner is not losing his hearing, Siarah so don't worry! As for KirCo... wait and see. I might, I may not. Thanks go to: Siarah, LJstagflower4e,the real vampire(p.s. One too many rocked!), Jill, and hullabaloofairy, you guys so totally rock!

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Disclaimer: Don't own much, not mine and please don't sue!

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Chapter 12 Radios and Confrontations.

Suddenly, as if planned, the rain clouds began to form, causing the two monsters to reform in giant size.

"You know, this is getting really, really old," Tommy groaned as he raised his morpher to call the zords.

"What?" Conner asked, only hearing the word 'old'.

"I said – never mind. Brachiozord, online!" the black ranger called. However, the zords didn't appear.

"Where are they?" Kira asked, still de morphed.

"I don't know," the older ranger replied. "Hayley, can you hear me?" Static played over the com line. "The communication lines are down. I can't get hold of the zords or Hayley."

"Ok, well this is definitely not a good thing to have happen….." Conner said, gazing upwards at the two latest monsters. "My morpher isn't working either."

"This is so not good," Ethan declared.

"Maybe mine is working…" Kira said, morphing. "Dino zords online!"

With an earth shaking roar the Brachiozord lumbered into view, carrying the other zords. Opening the bay doors it released the other zords who quickly formed up.

It took the team less than five minutes to disassemble the two mantis monsters. Having faced the pairs devastating scream before, the rangers were able to attack before they were able to mount an effective assault.

Having no further appearances of monsters, or even Zeltrax, the rangers returned home, school having been cancelled due to the attack.

* * *

The next day Conner walked into the school grounds with a confident smile on his face. The team were working together better than ever and he had even had time to get all of his homework done for the rest of the week. Things were beginning to look up. Hopefully with a little help from Kira and Ethan, he would be able to keep his mother from wondering by providing alibi's for his disappearances, such as the one yesterday. Thankfully Kira had been able to provide the excuse of helping Conner with some of his missed work, which was partially true.

The approaching form of Aled brought Conner out of his musings. "Dude, where did you disappear off to yesterday? I noticed you left Soccer practice early and when I asked the coach he said that you had gone to the nurse. Everything ok?"

"Yeah, I was feeling a bit under the weather and my ribs were hurting. Must not be over 'helping' Doctor Oliver," Conner replied hoping that his friend would buy it.

"That's weird, I thought I saw you going out the front gates," Aled countered. "If you're going to skive, you could at least take me along with you man."

"I wasn't skiving dude, I just had to grab something from my car and it would have looked suspicious if both of us had gone. I was on my way to the nurse when the principal sent us all home." This was the thing he hated most, having to make up excuses on the spot. Sure, when it came to skiving to practise soccer and creatively misdirecting a teacher he didn't feel too guilty. But when he had to lie to people he considered a friend; that was when his conscience began to nag.

"That's not the point dude, you could have gotten me out of Soccer practise too, even if it was for a good reason. We're supposed to be best friends. You've become more and more obsessed with your work and hanging with those freaks, Kira and Ethan. I'm beginning to think that you want to join the freak squad ranks," Aled replied, scorn lacing his voice. Conner was becoming more and more of a geek than ever. Who needed school anyway? Being popular and cool was far more important. Conner used to understand this, what had changed?

"They're not freaks! And the reason I've become more 'obsessed' as you put it, is because I need better grades to get into college and just being a Soccer ace isn't enough." Conner was getting angry now. Once again the argument over Kira, Ethan and spending more time doing his work was being brought up. Ever since he had been told by his career advisors that he would need to raise his grades to get into most of the potential colleges he was considering, he had spent less time hanging out playing the 'jockboy' part that Kira had so aptly called him on the day they received their Dino gems. Since getting the gems and having the added responsibilities of being a ranger, things had gotten worse between the two of them. "I can't play Soccer for the rest of my life, and my education actually means something to me. Kira and Ethan understand this and I refuse to have to explain this to you Aled. If you were truly my friend then you would understand this!"

"What?" Aled asked. He was getting red in the face and squared up to the taller form of Conner. "You're telling me that those freaks are better than me? We used to be inseparable, did what we wanted, when we wanted." He began to push Conner back. "Now you hang around with geeks and have become teacher's pet! It's like you think that you are better than the rest of us. The others have noticed too, Delta, Carl and Sara. They want to know why we aren't good enough to hand out with."

"Its got nothing to do with me thinking that you guys are not good enough, you guys are my friends," he began, raising his hands in a placating gesture.

"That's a lie, you spend more time with _them_ than you do hanging with us. You even hang at Hayley's where most of the geeks and freaks go. You're turning into one." Aled continued, pushing Conner back even further, clearly angry.

"I go to Hayley's because I can get more work done there than I can hanging out with you guys. All we do is hang around and I end up not having enough time to do school work. Even my mom is starting to notice." Conner continued to keep his voice calm, which only served to wind Aled up even further.

"So now we're lazy and don't do work so you need to escape somewhere like there to get it done! You are some piece of work man," Aled began pushing harder. "In fact, you're a loser. You need to hang around with geeks so that you can get help to do your work and you say that we're lazy? As far as I'm concerned we're done here," Aled shouted, "finished." Turning, he began to storm off.

Conner, not wanting the argument to end on such a bad note reached a hand out and took hold of Aled's arm. This proved to be an unwise move as the angered teen swung a fist round and connected solidly with Conner's jaw, sending the red clad ranger to the floor. "Stay away from us you loser!" Aled shouted, walking off without looking back. Conner, still sprawled on the floor, was too shocked to even attempt to follow and simply sat there nursing his newly split lip.

* * *

So there you go, hope you liked the next installment. Ideas on how to punish Aled would be interesting, as would any other comments. Not really sure where to take this, have a few plot bunnies nibbling away but which to choose? suggestions would be welcome!


	13. Adapting

Sorry for the delay, i broke the computer this was stored on and i had to get it fixed. That and rl has not been very nice.

Usual disclaimers apply and thanks to all those who have reviewed!

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Chapter 13 Adapting

Kira, having seen the entire confrontation from the other end of the courtyard they were presently occupying, made her way over to the still stunned fellow ranger. "Conner, you okay?" she asked, reaching a hand out to help him up. His lip was bleeding and he had a look of bewilderment on his face that would have been funny if not for the situation.

Still not believing what had just happed, Conner didn't reply. He took her hand and allowed her to help pull him to his feet. Bringing his hand to the sore spot on his mouth he was even more shocked to find that his supposed friend had split his lip. Hearing Kira ask him if he was okay again he managed to reply, "Yeah, I'm ok. I just never expected him to react this way." He had never even suspected that Aled would ever take a swing at him, no matter how annoyed he got. Turning to Kira he voiced his confusion. "I don't understand. I know things have been a bit strained between the two of us for a while and that we had been spending less an less time together but to get that angry over it?"

Kira, who had been close enough to hear what had been said, sighed. "I think that he got mad because instead of agreeing with him, you defended what you thought was right," she offered. At the look of confusion on Conner's face she continued, "When he was insulting Ethan and me and your extra time working on your school work you stood up for your choices and he took it as if you were implying that he was stupid and didn't work, which is basically true, but hey, he was your friend."

"I never meant to imply that he was stupid, or lazy and he knows that I don't think that. I think, I don't know anymore," Conner sighed. This was turning out to be a lame day after all. Still, at least he had got all of his work for the rest of the week done.

"From what I could see, it seems that they have decided that you are no longer welcome in their so called 'group'." Kira said, pulling him in the direction of their next class. "At least that leaves time for more work and practise. It's one more load off your mind and besides, who needs friends like that? If they can't understand or at least respect your choices, then they aren't really your friends."

"Yeah," Conner replied thoughtfully. "You're right, besides, I have you and Ethan to annoy," he said playfully.

"Dream on Jockboy," Kira replied smiling at the implied extra time in his presence.

* * *

It had been nearly three weeks since Conner had been punched by Aled. During that time Aled had gone out of his way to avoid Conner, even to the point of dropping out of Soccer practice. To Conner this had come to be less and less of a surprise. He had come to realise that if they could not accept his decisions about his work and who he chose to spend time with, based solely on a perceived social status concept, then they weren't really his friends. Kira, Ethan, Dr. Oliver and Hayley shared this opinion.

Having decided this, he had spent the past few weeks catching up on missed work and had even managed to gain some extra credit work, raising his grades to a higher level. Because of the time spent within the company of his fellow rangers, their friendship had become stronger, and with their help he had even managed to avoid his mother's wrath on more than one occasion due to their late study groups over at Hayley's. There had been no monster activity since the two mantis creatures had attacked, but it had come as a welcome reprieve as they had had a serious run of exams to prepare for instead.

However as is usually the case, the peace wasn't going to last for long. Sat in Dr. Oliver's underground lab, re watching over the highlights of the other rangers that had come before them, Ethan, Kira and Conner were somewhat peeved when the alarm began to sound signalling the presence of another monster.

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Well there you go. And as a special treat... here's the next chapter! 


	14. Quarry

I would like to point out that i do not own Conner (to my great disappointment) or any of the other characters who are original. i do own the new monster, who i will set on anyone who flames. oh yeah, i also don't make any money from this :(

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Chapter 14 Quarry.

Sat in Dr. Oliver's underground lab, re watching over the highlights of the other rangers that had come before them, Ethan, Kira and Conner were somewhat peeved when the alarm began to sound signalling the presence of another monster.

"Looks like 'time out' is over and the other side want to play…" Conner murmured, rising to his feet. Raising his communicator he tagged the other rangers. "Guys, we got another present from Mesogog. Who's in for unwrapping it?"

"I'm in!" came Ethan's easy reply down the comlink. From the noise in the background, he was in Hayley's cyberspace. Most likely playing the latest computer game on the net.

"Where?" came Kira's response.

"Out in the old quarry by the highway. I think they're looking for another dino egg. Either that or it's a really bad day to be a rock….." Conner replied.

"'Kay. We'll be there as soon as we can," Ethan replied.

"Don't do anything stupid Jockboy," was Kira's response.

"Me?" the red ranger asked, confused. "What would I do?"

"I think that she means running into the fight on your own Conner." This coming from the newly arrived black ranger, caused the younger man to jump.

"Gah! Dr. O! When did you get here?"

"I live here, remember?" was the dry response. "We need to morph and get over there before they cause too much damage. They're after something and I don't know what."

Rising from his seat Conner nodded to his counterpart. "Ready?" As a practiced unit they both morphed and headed out to the quarry.

* * *

Sometimes, being the girl of the team really sucked. Having reached the quarry first, through being the nearest, Kira had arrived in time to save a fleeing quarry worker from being squashed by a dislodged boulder. Now she was hip deep in tyrannodrones and the guys were late. As usual. Even though she was a girl she could pack quite a punch, however, and was holding her own. But, if they didn't turn up soon, she wouldn't be holding her own. 'I really should start taking my own advice,' she thought to herself as she blocked a downward blow from an incoming drone on her left.

Upon arriving she had managed to get a quick glance at who exactly was destroying the surrounding area and causing such mayhem. the quarry was under attack by around twenty or so tyrannodrones and what could only be described as a walking mass of lava. The lava thing was steadily firing out blasts of heat that were exploding everything in their path from boulders to buildings.

'If they don't get here soon there wont be anything for them to save and I can't hold out for much longer…' she thought using a tornado kick to take down another drone and swing out of the way of a second and third that were trying to flank her.

A large explosion drew her attention just as she ducked a swinging strike, giving her the chance to see Ethan arrive on his cycle and take down three drones with a war cry. "Hah!" The blue ranger's laser ploughing through the unsuspecting drones that collapsed on the floor writhing in agony.

Forcing his way through the remaining drones, he made a beeline directly for the beleaguered yellow ranger. "Kira!" he called, sliding his bike to a stop by her side.

"It's about time!" Kira yelled, enjoying the slight reprieve of having a teammate to watch her back. "What took you so long?"

"I got collared by Devin on the way out the door. I couldn't really say 'sorry I have to go and morph so I can fight the new monster' could I?" Ethan replied. Using his Tricerashield be blocked an incoming strike from one of the remaining drones. He had to admit Kira was right for being angry but he got rid of Devin as quick as he could. "The other's should be right behind me. They stopped at the entrance to take care of the drones attacking the workers who were trying to escape."

"What we really need to do is stop that thing from blowing up anything else!" Kira yelled. "If it keeps going the entire west wall of the quarry is going to collapse. On us."

Before they could say anything further, streaks of red blasted the remainder of the surrounding tyranodrones away, leaving them free and clear.

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I realise that i have left you all for ages without an update but please please leave a review! it feeds the plot bunny! 


	15. 3, 2, 1, FIGHT!

Many thanks to those who have reviewed. you guys are what proddeed me into writing more.

usual disclaimer applies although i own my lava pet, i let him out occaisionally

Chapter 15 Three, two, one, FIGHT!

"What we really need to do is stop that thing from blowing up anything else!" Kira yelled. "If it keeps going the entire west wall of the quarry is going to collapse. On us."

Before they could say anything further, streaks of red blasted the remainder of the surrounding tyrannodrones away, leaving them free and clear.

Turning to the source of the red streaks Kira was relieved to see the both the red and black rangers appear from behind a partially collapsed section of the quarry near the entrance. Weapons up and aimed, they had made quick work of the remaining tyrannodrones.

"Hey, what happening?" Conner asked jovially. This was beginning to become routine for the ranger and as usual decided to barb Kira into a little verbal sparring match.

"Oh, nothing much jockboy, just another Mesogog's monsters throwing a welcoming party for us. Balloons, candles…." Kira retorted giving the red ranger a look that would have melted lesser people.

"Not to mention great balls of fire!" Ethan yelled, forcing his fellow rangers back as a great ball of molten rock came flying at them, only to land where the rangers had previously been stood.

"That was entirely too close for comfort," Kira breathed, feeling the heat from the now glowing mound of rock a few feet in front of them.

"Now that's what I call getting hot under the collar!" Conner quipped.

"Yeah, whoever said Geology Rocks hasn't met this guy," Ethan commented, readying himself for the next attack.

"Plans?" Conner asked, glancing at his teammates. Sure, he was in charge, but listening to other ideas couldn't hurt. The only plan he had at the moment was charging in and hoping to do enough damage to take the monster down.

"Well, standing here and hoping that it will cool off and become a pretty new garden ornament doesn't seem to be working," Ethan said. "Especially when it can hit us from across the quarry."

"I agree with Ethan," Kira replied. "What is it with these things and attacking in places like quarries and docks, oh and my personal favourite, refineries?"

"Don't look at me," Dr. Oliver said at the glances passed in his direction. "I've been doing this a long time and even I still have no clue why they seem to have this affinity with places like this."

"Well, guys, I hate to interrupt but it seems lavaboy doesn't want us to talk," Conner declared pointing at the new monstrosity. "Heads up!"

The lava monster having realised that the rangers were discussing whatever it is that they do before they fight, decided that they had had way too much time to discuss strategy and it was now time to demolish them. Moving to put them in range it released another burst of lava at the four brightly coloured targets it had been taught to identify as rangers and destroy.

The four rangers, having seen the oncoming onslaught, spread themselves out, making it much more difficult for them to all be taken out at the same time. Slowly, dodging further attacks from the newly dubbed Lavaboy monster, they moved into a loose line, attempting to outflank the monster. This plan however was suddenly made useless and dangerous by the appearance of Zeltrax and an even larger force of tyrannodrones, exactly between the rangers, splitting them into two.

"Conner, we need a game plan, and fast!" Kira said, having been on the same side as Conner when Zeltrax had appeared. Realising that they now had more to worry about than falling balls of molten rock, she manoeuvred so that she was back to back with the slightly taller red ranger.

"I'm thinking!" Conner yelled back at her, even as his mind was racing to find an idea as to how to deal with this new development.

"Well think fast!" Kira replied, raising her arm to block and incoming strike from the now attacking tyrannodrones. Realising that one was about to get past her defences and strike Conner, she reversed her stance and gave the offending drone an impressive side kick, causing it to spin before landing in a pile several feet away from them.

Dr. Oliver and Ethan were not faring well either, having realised that the situation had gone from the frying pan to the fire, they had been swamped by half of the tyrannodrones. And to make matters worse, Zeltrax had decided to make destroying the black ranger his latest mission for the day.

"Conner, Ethan and I will handle the drones and Zeltrax. You and Kira take Lavaboy!" Dr. Oliver called, taking charge. Having been a ranger for longer, Conner often turned to his advice and when situations became this serious, and sometimes deferred control over to the black ranger.

"Gotcha Doc!" Kira and Conner called as one.

"We will?" Ethan asked, blocking an attack by three drones, forcing them back with his shield.

" It will take at least two of us to bring that monster down, they're nearest and I'm about to get real busy with tin head over there," Tommy answered, continuing to force back more drones. "Besides, you're telling me that you can't handle ten drones by yourself?" If there was one thing that Tommy knew from his years of experience being the leader was how to get people to do things that they ordinarily wouldn't do. Like fight off several drones on their own.

"Well, yeah duh! But what about Kira and Conner?" Ethan asked, casting a furtive glance in their direction.

"They should be fine!" Tommy replied, knocking down the last drone between him and Zeltrax.

"Well well, Doctor Oliver," Zeltrax sneered. "It seems that you're having a little problem with one of my monsters. Too bad you won't be around long enough to see it demolish your little rangers!" Raising his sword he moved in for the kill, aiming at the black ranger's head.

Having seen this coming, Tommy had already brought his staff up to counter the blow. While allowing the blow to glance off of his staff he had brought his left leg around in a sweeping motion, knocking the unwary Zeltrax off of his feet. Now raising his staff he prepared to disable Zeltrax, only to be blasted back by a blast from Mesogog's lackey. Landing on his butt he had a moment to register how the others were doing before pushing himself back to his feet, eyes on the also rising Zeltrax.

"Nice move, but you'll have to do better than that!" Tommy fired at the warrior, again moving into the fray, attempting to disable instead of destroy. Tommy knew that he might be able to help this poor soul if given the chance.

"Don't worry, I intend to do much better, and destroy you!" he snarled swinging in low against the black rangers torso, landing a solid blow.

Sparks exploded from the impact site forcing Tommy back a few steps and shooting pain up his side. This was getting serious, and what he had seen of the progress of the other rangers; things were not going so great for them either. Ignoring the pain, he moved forward again, blocking a series of strikes and parries to succeed in landing three successive strikes on Zeltrax, knocking him off of his feet.

Grasping the now smoking area where Tommy's staff had impacted Zeltrax snarled, "You haven't heard the last of this ranger!" rising to his feet he moved back to allow two of the few remaining drones to attack, giving him his opportunity to escape.

Ignoring the retreating Zeltrax, Tommy made short work of the two attacking drones and turned to see the chaos that was unfolding behind him.

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please let me know what you think! 


	16. Chaos and Ambush

Chapter 16 Chaos and Ambush.

Grasping the now smoking area where Tommy's staff had impacted Zeltrax snarled, "You haven't heard the last of this ranger!!!" rising to his feet he moved back to allow two of the few remaining drones to attack, giving him his opportunity to escape.

Ignoring the retreating Zeltrax, Tommy made short work of the two attacking drones and turned to see the chaos that was unfolding behind him.

Having been left entirely on his own to handle the tyranodrones brought by Zeltrax, Ethan decided that the world owed him a favour. Watching the progress of both Conner and Kira as well as Dr. O out of the corner of his eye, he slowly began working his way down the hit list of drones surrounding him. Parrying a blow from a drone on his left he brought his leg around in a sweeping motion, flooring two other drones attempting a sneak attack on his right.

Flipping backwards to avoid being between a drone and a harder drone Ethan whipped out his tricerashield and slammed the next approaching drone in the face, causing it to retreat backwards. Swinging his shield the blue ranger continued the onslaught by sending two well placed kicks at an incoming drone from behind. This was going quite well, was the thought running through Ethan's head. That was until and incoming lava bomb landed right next to him, the percussive force knocking him completely off his feet, taking three of the drone with him.

Laying on his ready-made mattress of drones the blue ranger realised that he didn't have enough time to peruse the pretty stars orbiting around his head. Heaving himself upwards Ethan took a second to glance in the direction of his fellow rangers. Dr. O was holding his own against Zeltrax, at least, sort of. Dodging a swipe from a drone the blue ranger pulled his eyes away from the black rangers plight and focussed on his own. After the lava bomb there were only four drones still standing, shortly to be three as Ethan swung his tricerashield round and sent the tyranodrone flying dino airways style, to land among a nearby pile of rubble.

Having dispatched with one of the drones, he took a moment to check on how Conner and Kira were doing with the molten monster. Things did not look good. Both he and Dr. O. needed to help them soon or their ranger team would be down by two members. Feeling the desperate need to go and help his friends increase Ethan began to fight with even more fervour. With only three drones left, he dived right into the middle of the trio and began to slowly and methodically break their defences down.

Grabbing the down coming arm of a drone on his left he swung the attacker round into one of the two remaining drones, knocking them both to the ground and out of the fight. Grinning underneath his helmet Ethan turned to the final and so in trouble drone already on the attack. Dodging swipe after swipe from the drone, the blue ranger used a combination of moves gradually knocking the drone to the ground senseless.

"You haven't heard the last of this ranger!!!" Having just dispatched with the last of his drones the blue ranger turned in time to see Zeltrax disappear and the black ranger dispose of two rather snaky drones with a finesse borne of many years practise.

It was at this moment that one of the most unhelpful series of events decided to occur.

Throughout the entire fight, from the beginning of the attack to when the rangers had turned up, one person hadn't managed to escape. Having hidden when the screams had first reached his ears the technician had decided that now would be a great time to escape. However, first he needed a distraction. Knowing the quarry like the back of his hand, he had used his meagre brains when the attack had started and hid in one of the most fortified buildings on site, the explosives shack. Now, hearing the explosions outside and the ongoing battle between the rangers and the monster, he had decided that now would be as good a time as any.

Preparing to dash out of the door, the technician tripped over a series of wires on his way out of the door. Picking himself up off the floor he looked down to determine the cause to discover a set of fuses that clearly led towards the west wall of the quarry. If he remembered correctly that part of the wall was due for demolition to allow access to a new series of veins. These must be the fuses that the demolition squad had just finished setting up when the attack began.

Turning back into the shack he saw that the fuse lines were connected to a timer box. Of course!!!! Perfect!!! He could set the timer and be able to use the collapsing wall as a perfect distraction to escape. The rangers were very quick and had high tech equipment. They would be able to escape easily from any ensuing rockslide caused by his distraction.

Grabbing the timer box he set the timer for a successive series of explosions throughout the west face where the charges were set. Planning his escape route in his mind, he set the clock to five minutes. That would give him enough time to escape up the east wall of the quarry and away from the walking volcano currently pummelling the red and yellow ranger.

Turning the switch, the technician ran for the door and the path leading up the east side of the quarry and escape.

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Please Review!!! 


	17. Anger Management

Chapter 17- Anger management.

Turning the switch, the technician ran for the door and the path leading up the east side of the quarry and escape.

Kira was beginning to understand how sometimes being a girl was definitely NOT an advantage. Especially when in a fight with an exceptionally large mass of molten rock nearly three times her size. She could feel herself beginning to tire from the exertion of keeping up a strong defence and attack, particularly when she had already dispatched a horde of drones before the boys had arrived to help save the day.

Things had gotten even tougher when Zeltrax had appeared and decided that he was personally responsible for the destruction of Dr. O. having the annoying ability of being not only able to appear at the most annoying of times he had also managed to split the team up. Now both she and Conner were trying to take down a miniature volcano. The only problem with this was that most hits that they landed were not doing anything they were simply being absorbed. Not to mention that the thing was HOT.

From the time that they had been separated both the red and yellow ranger had been alternatively dodging flying lava bombs and landing hits to various areas of the molten mass. "So, any ideas Jockboy??" the yellow ranger asked ducking a swipe from the extended arm of Lavaboy as they had dubbed it.

"Other than avoiding its molten extendo arms??" Conner grunted in response as he was forced to roll and avoid another swipe from the monsters molten arms.

"Well, I'd have thought that that one had been a bit obvious," she quipped back. "But seeing as you're a soccer jock, nothing would surprise me."

Taking a second to gaze at her incredulously Conner had enough time to notice an incoming bomb and shove them both out of the way as it went sailing past. "That was close," he commented, picking the somewhat scuffled yellow ranger up off of the floor where he had shoved her. Hearing the bomb explode they turned to see Ethan get knocked off of his feet from the blast, the bomb having landed smack next to him. "Oooops….." Conner commented grinning sheepishly behind his helmet. " do you think that he will forgive us?"

Kira, dusting dirt off of her suit didn't reply as she jumped over another attempt by the monster to grab her. Pulling out her ptera grips, she charged at the miniature volcano on legs and leaped over its head, landing several heavy blows. This in turn caused the monster to become enraged and it released a cloud of steam and toxic gas in its fury. Being caught still in midair, Kira was thrown against the west wall of the quarry, landing in a heap at the foot, rubble trickling around her sprawled form.

"Kira!!!" Conner screamed, feeling real fear pulse through his veins since the refinery. Kira wasn't moving, she was either very hurt or unconscious. Or worse. Feeling anger take the place of the fear, brutally shoving it to the back of his mind the red ranger charged at the pulsating and still steaming molten mass, swinging his tyrano staff with all his force, charging it with energy. "Hiya!!" he cried as the blow landed across the monsters torso. Without waiting for a response he brought the staff around for another strike to the lava creatues side, landing another blow.

Almost completely focussed on venting his wrath on the creature he didn't notice the slight form of the yellow Dino ranger began to move and pull itself from the rubble.

Literally seeing red Conner continued to pummel the monster, pulling off moves that he never thought would be possible for him to do, in ranger mode or not. Feeling his staff becoming too hot to handle he ignored the searing pain and the blackening of his suit from the intense heat of the monster. Swinging with all his might he impacted his staff right between the monsters eyes, prompting it to release a screech and swat the now very annoying red ranger away from it and launched a bomb after him.

Reeling from the pain of being swatted across the quarry yard by Lavaboy airways, Conner landed heavily on the floor, skidding to a stop several feet later. Opening his eyes and gritting his teeth against the pain, he looked up in time to see a bomb descending upon his very position. Using what strength he could muster he rolled out of the bombs path, only to be rolled with greater force into a boulder as the lava bomb exploded. Feeling blackness encroach on his vision Conner raised his head in defiance, only to see the reason that he wasn't being attacked was a certain Yellow ranger, laying down hellfire with her blaster and hobbling her way over to his position.

"Conner!! You alright??" Concern laced her voice as she reached his undignified sprawled position. "That was a really really stupid thing to do!!"

Resigning himself to the fact that he was going to be shouted at no matter what, he attempted to pull himself up off the floor to observe the apparent two yellow rangers currently laying into him. Shaking his head to dispel the double imagery he interrupted her tirade by grabbing her arm and pulling her towards him and around the boulder as another bomb exploded where they had originally been.

"And don't think that by saving me that I wont still be mad!!" she finished, still clutching at him. "So what plans you got?"

Shaking his head with mirth he peered over the boulder to where the monster was now ambling its way over to where it had originally thrown Kira. "I don't think that this one's too bright. Strong, hell yeah, but not the sharpest tool in the toolbox." Conner commented, releasing Kira and moving around the boulder, waiting for her to follow suit. "We need to outsmart it, get it really angry then pummel it. With what I have no idea, but hopefully by the time we get to that part of the plan the two brains of our outfit will be free to give ideas…"

"So for now we just get it really really REALLY mad and hope that it blows its own top?" Kira asked readying her grips. "Its either a very stupid plan or one of the most ingenious that I've ever come across."

"So lets do it!" Conner replied, leading the charge. Together they surrounded the monster and took turns swiping at it, gradually watching it get madder and madder. Landing a particularly heavy blow to its rear Conner noticed that very slowly it was changing colour, becoming redder and redder.


	18. Did you feel the earth move ?

Chapter 18 - Did you feel the earth move

Chapter 18 - Did you feel the earth move??

"So lets do it!" Conner replied, leading the charge. Together they surrounded the monster and took turns swiping at it, gradually watching it get madder and madder. Landing a particularly heavy blow to its rear Conner noticed that very slowly it was changing colour, becoming redder and redder.

Unnoticed by any of the rangers, the technician was almost at the base of the quarry path on the east side, panting desperately for breath. Turning to witness what was going on with the rangers he glanced at his watch. It had been 4 minutes since he had set the timer. From here he was safe from the collapse of the wall and would soon be able to escape without being seen. Unfortunately it was at this point when fate would not make things easy.

"You haven't heard the last of this ranger!!"

Watching the strange thing that had brought the monster and minions with it disappear after a particularly strong blow, he saw the black ranger quickly dispatch two more of the minions as the blue one finished the rest of the minions. Now would be a perfect time to move. Turning to run, he didn't see the rock on the floor, tripping over it and sliding down the wall of the quarry towards the monster and the red and yellow ranger who were battling it.

Getting more and more angry the monster was trying to decide in its limited scope of thinking what to do. It was supposed to destroy there brightly coloured things that were swatting at it like flies, but they were too quick. Now the blue one was joining in, and the attacks beginning to sting. It landed one particularly painful blow, so the monster swatted to the blue one away. Following the path of the blue one the monster noticed a bright yellow thing tumbling down the embankment. They had lied!! There were TWO yellow ones!! That was not fair, it was only told there was one!! Becoming yet more and more angry it began to glow red and let out a furious howl.

Turning to see what the monster was howling at, Ethan and Dr. Oliver looked on in horror as an innocent civilian tumbled and slid down the embankment towards the obviously enraged monster.

"Ethan, we need to get him out of here!!" Dr. O called urgently. Taking in the situation he knew that Conner and Kira could hold their own right now, but the man was falling straight towards then and only he and Ethan were close enough to help.

Ethan looked up at his mentors call and raced into action. Sprinting towards the slope when the man was falling he jumped, landing partway up the slope of the embankment, snagging the back of the technicians safety jacket as he rolled past. "Whoa! Easy there!" he said as he pulled the now terrified man to his feet.

"You okay?" Tommy asked having just reached the pair from the other side of the hill.

The technician was to frightened to speak, merely nodding in grateful terror, his eyes flicking between the fight below and his watch. Eyes opening in terror, he began to back up the hill as fast as possible.

"Hey, where's the fire??" Ethan asked, grabbing the man by the sleeve of his jacket.

"The timer!! The timer!!"

"Whoa, wait a minute!! What timer?" Tommy asked a greasy coil of fear tightening in his gut.

"The one attached to the charges in the west wall, its set to go off any second!!" the technician wailed struggling to release Ethan's grip on his sleeve. "Let me GO!" he cried, kicking at the restraining blue gloved hand.

Feeling the coil tighten in his stomach Tommy turned, opening a com channel to give his two younger team mates the warning. "Guys, the wall is set to blow!! Get out of there!!" Gazing on in terror he could only watch as one of his worst nightmares played out before his eyes in a tumultuous roar of stone and fire…

This idea of winding up the monster sure is working, but what are we gonna do next?? Was the only thought running through Conner's head. Ethan had finished with the last of the tyrano drones and had joined the fray, providing a very good shield to hide behind, taking the brunt of the hits from the monster. Using two well placed strikes from Conner and Kira as a distraction Ethan landed a powerful blow to the back of the monsters head. Shrieking in agony the monster swatted Ethan away. Conner winced, knowing how painful that blow would have been to his friend.

However, instead of laying straight back into him and Kira, it was gazing up the hill of the east side at a tumbling civilian. Realising that the monster was possibly going to go for the man, Kira and Conner redoubled their efforts to annoy and distract the monster while Ethan and Dr. O. went to help the man. Continuing to wind the lava creature up, they pushed it further away from the man and closer to the west wall, hoping to corner it. Hearing a lot of shouting coming from the other side of the quarry, Conner turned to see if they needed help. This however proved to not be such a wise move, as he failed to see the incoming swipe of the lava creature's arm.

Kira, having ducked tried to yell a warning as the near solid and scalding appendage slammed into the red rangers shoulder, knocking him into the wall and causing him to collapse against the floor, de-morphed and half conscious. Re doubling her efforts Kira began to use her laser to force the monster back and took up a defensive position between the half conscious Conner and it.

It was at this moment that Dr. O's voice was heard over the com channel "Guys, the wall is set to blow!! Get out of there!!"

People always say that you have a split second where everything is still, right before something goes seriously wrong. Kira looked up in that moment of peace to see the charges in the wall explode, releasing fire and fracturing the rock above in a catastrophic and deadly rain of rock shard and fragments.


	19. Rock n Roll

LOooooong delay i know...

**19 Rock and Roll**

Kira, having ducked tried to yell a warning as the near solid and scalding appendage slammed into the red rangers shoulder, knocking him into the wall and causing him to collapse against the floor, de-morphed and half conscious. Re doubling her efforts Kira began to use her laser to force the monster back and took up a defensive position between the half conscious Conner and it.

It was at this moment that Dr. O's voice was heard over the com channel "Guys, the wall is set to blow!! Get out of there!!"

People always say that you have a split second where everything is still, right before something goes seriously wrong. Kira looked up in that moment of peace to see the charges in the wall explode, releasing fire and fracturing the rock above in a catastrophic and deadly rain of rock shard and fragments.

Rock can take many forms. From the large variety of molten ones known as magma underground and lava above ground, to the very fragile tufa rocks formed in salt environments. They can be exceedingly light and they can be crushingly heavy. They can be crystal white and they can be pitch black. These are such thoughts that occur to people when facing a falling wall of said rocks. Except these weren't white and pretty, or even black. These were shards of dark brown intent only on their downwards travail to the ground under gravity's inescapable force. And between these rocks and the ground Kira stood, hovering over a semi-conscious red ranger.

Moments between life and death can seem to stretch for eternity, following the theory of relativity. However Kira knew she had only one choice. She wasn't fast enough to drag them clear and Conner was no help, currently trying to keep his eyes open. She didn't have enough power in her Ptera rangs to deflect the rocks or shield behind them. They were wholly trapped and soon to die with no help in reach. She did however have one thing that would help. The Dino gem, glowing brightly in her morpher as if it knew the conundrum facing them.

Using all her concentration she did the one thing that felt natural and called all the energy of the gem into her and let loose a powerful sonic scream. Straight up at the rocks.

Sound being physical vibrations meant that this caused the very air to move around them, slamming into the falling rocks, pushing them sideways and away from the two trapped rangers. Energy pulsing through Kira, she glowed bright like the sun causing sharp shadows to spread across the quarry in a strange dance of dark and light as the rocks crashed to the ground around them, the dust forming a curtain to shield them from concerned onlookers.

* * *

Across from the west wall Tommy looked on in horror as the charges blew. Seeing that Conner was down, probably seriously injured and Kira was also trapped sent a chill down his spine that he would never forget. The west wall seemed to shatter and crumble in on itself as the charges blew apart the seams between the rock beds, shattering millions of years of waiting and settling to form a deadly cascade of falling death.

In those few seconds of realisation as to what was happening he subconsciously thought back to when he first met them and how none of them wanted the power and responsibility in the first place. How they struggled to accept their gifts and the commitment that was involved in being a ranger. That was all about to be destroyed and all Tommy could do was look on helplessly.

Suddenly a brilliant glow like the sun burned from where Kira and Conner where, rising to encompass the falling rocks. Sound like he had never heard echoed through the quarry, a sound of desperation and need. The light pushed at the rocks causing their fall to be diverted slightly to fall around the glow only to be drowned out in the resulting dust cloud.

Heart in his mouth the black ranger moved towards his fallen companions and the now rising dust cloud, unable to see their fate.

I realise this is a really short one, but i felt like i needed to give the cliffhanger some exercise and explore those thoughts that run through their heads.

If anyone is still interested in this then please feed my muse!! ideas would be highly appreciated!

Fen


	20. Lost and Found

I Live! (erm, obviously)

Me no own, so no sue.

Chapter 20

Across from the west wall Tommy looked on in horror as the charges blew. Seeing that Conner was down, probably seriously injured and Kira was also trapped sent a chill down his spine that he would never forget. The west wall seemed to shatter and crumble in on itself as the charges blew apart the seams between the rock beds, shattering millions of years of waiting and settling to form a deadly cascade of falling death.

In those few seconds of realisation as to what was happening he subconsciously thought back to when he first met them and how none of them wanted the power and responsibility in the first place. How they struggled to accept their gifts and the commitment that was involved in being a ranger. That was all about to be destroyed and all Tommy could do was look on helplessly.

Suddenly a brilliant glow like the sun burned from where Kira and Conner where, rising to encompass the falling rocks. Sound like he had never heard echoed through the quarry, a sound of desperation and need. The light pushed at the rocks causing their fall to be diverted slightly to fall around the glow only to be drowned out in the resulting dust cloud.

Heart in his mouth the black ranger moved towards his fallen companions and the now rising dust cloud, unable to see their fate.

The deep grating noise of the rocks as they finished settling was loud and added to the fear in the Black ranger. Taking in the scene before him he realised that there was no sight of the lava monster or of the two rangers who were stood near it as the wall collapsed. hrough the haze of pulverised rock a coughing sound could be heard. It was only faint, but there non the less. Zeroing in on that sound Dr. Oliver carefully climbed through the fallen rocks as fast as was possible.

"Conner! Kira!" he called, pushing some of the smaller rocks out of his way. Panic was beating thick inside his chest. Behind him he could hear Ethan following in his path.

The coughing continued and no reply came forth. However, the dust was clearing enough for the black ranger to make out a clearing in the rubble pile that was strangely a near perfect circle. Inside the clearing was where the coughing was coming from.

"Kira?" Ethan called, worry lacing his voice. "Conner?" Both Black and Blue rangers moved closer through the dust to the clearing.

The coughing was starting to decrease and a rather creaky response of "Here…" could be heard. "Over here…." A female voice, if a little strained. A dust covered yellow form began to move and rose from the ground to reveal a second prone figure who wasn't moving.

Tommy moved closer, stepping into the small clearing of rubble and gave the slightly wobbling yellow ranger a steadying hand. "Are you alright?" he asked taking in the dust smudged appearance and the weaving.

"That was (cough) a close one," she replied, selfconciously attempting to brush the dust off herself. Suddenly, she started, "Conner!" Whirling around she crouched next to the still form on the ground.

The red ranger was out cold, covered in dust, but breathing. She released a sigh of relief and felt herself go dizzy with it. She had saved him, not just herself, but HIM. In those seconds watching the mountain of rock collapse on them she only had one thought, save Conner, even if it had cost her her life. And looking down at him now, she realised that she would make that same decision again, without a second thought.

Tommy crouched down next to the fallen red ranger as Ethan placed steadying hands on Kira's shoulders. Conner was breathing, which was a good sign. He brushed aside some of the dust and felt for a pulse, finding it strong and steady. The feeling of touch against his skin caused Conner to stir, limbs moving uncoordinatedly. Without warning his eyes snapped open and he began pushing at the person in front of him.

"Move, move, move!" he said, continuing his weak attempt at moving the crouched ranger in front of him.

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To update, or not. That is indeed the question.


	21. Ring my Bell

Evil Cliffy!

Chapter 21

"Move, move, move!" he said, continuing his weak attempt at moving the crouched ranger in front of him.

"Conner!" Kira said, leaning down to grab the arms that were weakly attempting to push Dr. Oliver away. "Conner! It's okay!" she repeated over and over.

Tommy placed a restraining hand on Conner's chest, waiting for the words to sink in and the red rangers brain to catch up with the current events. After a few seconds the light cam on and he calmed, looking up into Kira's helmeted face. "Kira?" he asked, unsure as to what he was seeing and not sure how he could be talking to someone when they should have been squashed by now.

"Yeah, Jockboy. Who else were you expecting?" She asked, taking her helmet off so that he could see her face.

"Why aren't we dead? And why are you all looking at me like that?" he asked with a childlike quality that made Kira smile and think that all the lights must not be back on yet.

"Well, what do you remember last?" She asked.

"Being slammed into the wall by Lavaboy followed by seeing the quarry wall coming down on us. I did see the quarry wall collapsing right? I'm not imagining that am I?" he asked, confusion clear on his face as he tried to connect all the jumbled images in his head.

"No Conner, you didn't imagine the wall collapsing," Tommy said, squeezing his shoulder. "You were down and Kira was defending you from the monster."

"Lavaboy!" Conner said with urgency trying to push himself upwards.

"Calm down, he's gone. At least I think he is. For now anyway." Tommy calmed. "One of the workers had set the wall to blow, which was set right above your heads. I'm still not sure how you two survived that." He gave Kira a questioning look.

All heads turned to look at Kira. "I'm not sure how I did it but I think I channelled into a new part of the dino gem. It gave me enough juice to release a powerful scream that deflected the falling rocks." She gave the black ranger a look that said she wasn't entirely sure that that was possible.

"I have seen times where in dire need a ranger has managed to tap the deepest recesses of their powers. Most have no idea how they managed it and some are never able to do it again. Lets just be thankful you could, or we would be short two rangers" he replied.

"Don't you mean flat?" Ethan asked, earning a groan from them all, followed by a gasp from Conner.

The red ranger raised a hand to his head and said "I have the mother of all headaches" as his eyes went slightly glazed.

"Conner?" Kira asked, leaning closer to him, worry all over her face.

"He'll be okay Kira, we just need to get him back and get you both checked out." The black ranger soothed. Picking out his com he called Hayley for a pick up.

* * *

Good ol Hayley huh?

Please review, it feeds the muse.

Ideas for where to take this would be appreciated!


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